The Spectacular Spider-Girl
by tehedward
Summary: Fates a funny thing, usually when something fated is supposed to happen it does and there isn't much you can do about it. But occasionally, sometimes something changes. The genetically altered spider was always going to escape, that was just a given fact of the universe, but it wasn't necessarily Peter Parker's fate to receive the bite. In this world, fate has chosen another.
1. Chapter 1

** Just toying with the idea of what if it wasn't Peter Parker who had been bit that fateful, what if it was someone else. I don't know, I kind of like the thought of Mary Jane being more than just Spider-Man's girlfriend. Pretty much AU, and I'll say right now that I don't have a lot of knowledge about the Marvel Universe or Spider-Man, but hopefully this will still turn out to be a good story and that you all are able to enjoy it for what it is. I should also warn you that the final pairing will be F/F so if that's not your thing then stop reading. Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-Man or Marvel or any of its characters.**

**s**

**Chapter 1**

**s**

Today was not a good day to be Mary Jane Watson, in fact, as far as days went this one was looking to be right up there with the day of her last field trip terms of how bad this day was going. She ducks down low to avoid the bullets from one the goons shooting at her, having been forced from the ceiling to the floor by an earlier spray of fire, before jumping high into the air into a back flip onto the wall to avoid the blade of some green trench coat wearing freak calling himself the Scorpion.

Of course she dressed up in a costume and called herself Spider-Girl so she really wasn't in any position to judge anybody else about their choice of clothing or their super hero name, or in this guy's case, super villain name. But in her defense her powers were actually spider based, while this guy just ran around with a machete, looking like some kind of wannabe Matrix reject as he tried to cut you into a million little pieces so... maybe she was in a position to judge.

M.J. lands on the wall and kicks off to avoid yet another spray of bullets, but she doesn't evade them all this time and one of the bullets grazes her thigh, but she powers through the pain and continues to dodge the hail of bullets. Jumping from wall to wall, off the chandelier and to the ceiling and back to the wall again. She had to do her best to keep the bullet fire pointed up and at her and away from the civilians.

There were currently five conscious heavily armed thugs, ten unconscious ones, one psychopath with a machete and about fifty innocent bystanders all caught up in the middle of this, with every reporter in the city all standing outside filming what they could, finally having some kind of proof that the "mysterious" Spider-Girl actually existed. Well more proof than tied up ravings of some bad guys which isn't the most reliable of sources. Still this kind of exposure really kind of sucked because she had worked so hard to keep hidden and make sure that she remained more myth than reality.

Still she would worry about her exposure to the world after she figured out a way to get out of this alive. And speaking of getting out of this thing alive, her spider senses suddenly flared up worse than ever before, she is already jumping away from her spot on the wall before she sees the grenade being tossed. She had learned very early on to trust in her spider senses to help her avoid danger, but even they weren't enough to save her completely from the blast.

The force of the explosion knocks her off her trajectory, she can feel the heat of the blast and the shrapnel pierce her costume and scatter across her back, she hits the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of her and she tumbles and rolls across the hard ballroom floor before finally landing face down in the middle of the room, while the terrified screams of some of the ballroom's guests fill the air.

She weakly lifts her head, the right side of her mask has been torn around her eye with the glass covering having shattered, exposing a bit of her red hair and a green eye to the world. She tries to lift her-self up and manages to make it to her hands and knees but her spider senses flair, and she is unable to dodge as a harsh kick to her ribs forces her over and back down to the ground and on her back.

She looks over as the Scorpion is walking slowly towards her, a cruel smirk playing on his lips as he readies his machete. Her body ached worse than anything she had ever experiences before, her ribs were probably cracked. Her back felt like it was on fire, her limbs felt heavy, the bullet wound in her leg was throbbing and she was exhausted. She had to face it, this is how her life was going to end, not exactly the most glorious of ends but really what did she expect playing the hero. Still she had done some good in the world, she had saved people's lives and who knows, maybe after her death this guy would let everyone go. She had been the target after all.

Mary Jane closes her eyes and waits for the final blow to fall, her mind landing on the one person she didn't save. Her last thoughts are of him, hopefully she would get to see him again, apologize for not saving him, for not acting sooner. Let him know that she tried to do good with these gifts that she had been given. Hopefully she would get to apologize to him and maybe he could even forgive her.

They hadn't been close, but he had influenced her to try and be a hero, to use her powers for good rather than selfish gain or even just hiding them away. But her time was up, she had jumped in over her head and while she had managed to tread water for a while in the end it just wasn't enough. Even knowing she was about to die and despite how scared she was to face the final moments of her life, she didn't regret what had happened to her to bring her to this point.

Her life was going nowhere, she had had big dreams but she knew how unrealistic they really were. What little girl didn't dream of growing up to be a world famous actress, and of those millions and millions of little girls, how many of them actually achieved their dreams? Besides because of her gifts she was able to get justice for Vivian, she was able to help people, she hopefully had atoned for his death, and ironically, she couldn't help but think, she probably would be famous after this. The Spider-Girl urban legend confirmed. Of course she would be too dead to appreciate it and she would probably be remembered as more of a cautionary tale about what happens to people who try to be vigilantes, but hey famous was famous and so she decided to look on the bright side.

She wouldn't die whimpering for her life, she was scared, she didn't want to die, but she could die bravely. She could die so that the people in this room might live, and that… that wasn't too bad a way to go. She just had to think of it as the final scene of a movie or play that's all. Yeah, it was her final scene, the curtain was about to close and the story was over. The hero… or in this case heroin dies, but lives on in the hearts of those left behind… god she was such a drama queen, she can't help but laugh at her-self.

**s**

**Six Months Earlier**

**s**

Mary Jane Watson was bored. No strike that bored would be a definite improvement over her current condition. She places her hand over her boyfriend's, whose arm was resting around her shoulder and she leans in a little closer to him as their tour guide continues to drone on and on about something or another that they were working on here at Oscorp. She and her biology class all had the distinct… "privilege" of being taken on a guided tour Oscorp's science labs.

She looks up at her boyfriend Flash Thompson, a junior and the star quarterback of the football team. Last year he had led the school to a state championship, after the game he had asked her to go out with him, as at the time she had been on the cheer squad. Yes it had started out as the cliché quarterback/cheerleader must date high school trope but that was last year and things were different now and they were still together. She wasn't even a cheerleader anymore she had to drop out so that she could participate in the school play, so take that haters.

Flash had his issues of course, but she really did like him and he was always really sweet to her. When he feels her lean in closer to him he leans down and they share a quick kiss, but he doesn't pull or push her away from him, happy to keep her close as they continue their tour through the maze of boredom that was Oscorp.

In fact the only good thing about this whole field trip was that she and Flash got to basically spend the entire time holding hands. As the class continues to follow after the tour guide a quick and bright flash of light catches her attention. Mary Jane looks over and sees Peter Parker snapping pictures of everything with his old camera.

She can't help the smile that crosses her face at her neighbor's enthusiasm. They had spent the last eight years living right across from each other, but they had never been really close. She had been into dance and sports and other things like that while he had been a… well he was a bit of a science nerd. He collected bugs, messed with computers, and while she went to summer camp he went to science camp.

She liked him well enough, he was a nice guy, but their interests were always so different that they were never more than a couple of _"hi, how ya doing?"_ neighbors. Still she waves to him when he looks up at her from his camera and smiles that sweet, but goofy, smile of his.

"Great, encourage your stalker." She hears Flash grumble quietly.

"Quiet you." She says teasingly, "He's not a stalker, he's my neighbor and you should stop picking on him."

"Well maybe if he'd stop staring at you all mooneyed I would." Flash says back.

"He does not stare at me all "mooney" eyed." She says rolling her eyes.

"Yes he does, whenever you're not looking he's there staring at you, watching you. He likes you."

"So he has a little crush, it doesn't mean anything, I'm with you aren't I?"

"Yeah…" Flash mumbles.

"That's right, I am, and I like being with you. You don't need to be jealous. And you don't need to pick on him, you're better than that."

Flash gently holds her hands in his own. "You make me better."

She steps up onto her toes while he leans down and they start to kiss. It doesn't last long however as their teacher breaks them apart.

"This is one of the greatest centers of science in the world. The knowledge and technology that is being uncovered here will change all of mankind and you two," Here their teacher, a Mr. Richardson, glares at them, "can't be bothered to put your lives on hold for even a minute to marvel at the wonders around you."

Mary Jane and Flash share a sheepish look. "Sorry Mr. Richardson." They both say in unison, while the rest of the class laughs quietly. Although Mary Jane did notice that Peter was watching her a little dolefully. Okay so maybe Flash had a bit of a point about Peter's crush.

"Uh-huh, I'm sure." he responds. "Well perhaps if we split you two up for the remainder of this visit, you two might actually take a moment to pay attention, and you might even learn something. Mr. Thompson, you'll be up front with me."

Flash's shoulders sag in defeat. "And Miss Watson, why don't you partner up with Mr. Parker. Let's see if perhaps some of his enthusiasm will rub off on you."

"Yes Mr. Richardson." She responds. She and Flash share one last look before Mr. Richardson leads him to the front of the group while Mary Jane stays back and waits for Peter to make his way over.

"You know if you pay attention, you'll find that a lot of this stuff is really interesting. Some of the things they do here are going to change the world." Peter says softly as he steps up next to her.

Deciding to be nice and not let the separation from her boyfriend sour her mood Mary Jane responds kindly. "Maybe, it's just this guide is so boring, she just keeps droning on and on like not even she finds any of this stuff interesting and she works here, plus most of this stuff is kind of over my head."

"Well I could explain it to you." Peter offers helpfully, and M.J. can hear the hint of hope in his voice.

"Sure, I think that's what Mr. Richardson had in mind any way. Besides it'll probably be more interesting coming from a _friend_ rather than some tour guide." Mary Jane is careful to put a little more emphasis on the word friend, hoping to discourage any romantic notions he might have, but not wanting to hurt his feelings.

"Great!" Peter says excitedly, either missing or choosing to ignore her subtle hint that she wasn't interested in him that way.

Still as she followed him through the facility after their group she couldn't help but start to get engrossed in what he was saying. He had a real passion for this stuff and she could appreciate that. Plus he dumbed the science stuff down to her level for her. She wasn't stupid by any means, she maintained an A to high B average in all of her classes but this stuff was pretty advanced and science had always been her worst subject.

But Peter seemed to get it, and he went about explaining all of the different things that some of the experiments could lead to. Splicing DNA to help people regrow limbs, curing diseases, unlocking the human potential. Free energy, faster than light travel, all of these things were becoming closer and closer to being a reality rather than some science fiction dream. And a lot of it was going to be possible because of the experiments done here at Oscorp.

Mary Jane knew there were some strange things that were appearing and happening all over the world. People with strange abilities were being rumored to exist, the appearance of the Iron Man almost a year ago. Dr. Reed Richards and his families work in building a new space station, but it always seemed so strange and far away that it never really had an impact on her life, so it was treated with the attitude of 'wow that's cool, but what does it have to do with me?' Peter however had a way of explaining it and making it seem like it should matter to her and she found herself getting more and more interested… until.

"No, nuh-uh, no way, not happening, I am NOT going in there." Mary Jane says firmly, her voice holding no room for arguments.

Peter laughs, "What? Why not?" He asks his voice filled with amusement.

"Do you not see all of those… those things in there!?" She asks incredulously.

Peter looks over to the room behind him and sees that the next room is filled wall to wall with small, clear plastic containers each one carrying a different species of spider. "What… you mean the spiders, they're harmless."

"They are not harmless! They are icky and creepy and… and… ewe." Mary Jane shudders.

"Spiders are amazing creatures, some of them can jump up to like 50 times their own length, others are super strong and can lift massive weights in comparison to their size, and their speed and agility are amazing. And some of them have reflexes so good that some scientists even think that they have senses that border on the precognitive that help them to avoid danger. They're just so…"

"Creepy, crawly, disgusting, evil?" Mary Jane offers, unimpressed with Peter's enthusiasm for her most hated foe. Was she being a bit dramatic about the spiders… HELL NO! Her sister, who Mary Jane still wasn't convinced that she wasn't the spawn of Satan, had dropped a spider down her shirt when she was little. It bit her, it hurt, and she had been terrified of the little monsters ever since. And no amount of Peter's evil spider worship was going to convince her that the little beasts had anything to offer the world… other than nightmares, spiders offered nightmares, that's it… and pain.

"I was going to go with cool." Peter says, and Mary Jane narrows her eyes at him because she can see that he finds this funny.

"Come on let me show you, all of the spiders are going to be locked in their containers, you have nothing to worry about."

"I'm not going in there. That room, is a room of evil."

"C'mon, it'll be fun I promise."

"There is nothing you can say to me that will convince me to go in there."

"You do know that this field trip is worth ten percent of our grade and if you don't participate Mr. Richardson will fail you and… he's looking over this way right now." Peter warns her, sympathy finally finding its way into his voice for her predicament.

Okay so _almost_ nothing could convince her to go in there, a ten percent hit to her science grade would drop her to a C and she had worked too hard this semester to get anything less than a B in this class.

'_Stupid field trip, stupid spiders, and stupid Mr. Richardson.'_ She thinks viciously, unsure about which of the three she hated more right now as she steels her resolve and steps into her own personal little hell.

"Hey look, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that spiders made you this nervous, but I promise it'll be okay." Peter says kindly when he notices her lightly shaking.

She smiles tightly at him, "It's fine, lets… let's just get this part over with."

Unfortunately for Mary Jane this spider exhibit seemed to be the grand finale of their tour of Oscorp and so it looked like they would be spending quite a bit of time in here. She manages to catch Flash's eye from across the room and he smiles sympathetically at her, aware of the fact that spiders aren't her most favorite thing in the world.

'_Are you okay?'_ Flash mouths.

Mary Jane nods her head, all while screaming in her mind _'NO, she wasn't okay!'_

She mostly stays behind Peter as he wonders around the room and examines all of the different species of spider in the room and snaps photos of them. Finally they stop at the center of the room at a table with thirteen containers on them and inside are some of the strangest and most colorful spiders they had seen yet. They were a vibrant blue color with a red pattern around the thorax, and they were all leaping from one side of their container to the next. Actually Mary Jane probably would have been impressed by the athleticism of it all if she was so incredibly freaked out by the little monsters.

"Excuse me?" Peter calls out to one of the nearby scientists.

"Yes?" A middle aged man in a white lab coat answers.

"I'm not familiar with this kind of species of spider, what kind are they?" Peter asks curiously.

Mary Jane couldn't care less what kind of species of spider it was, why didn't Peter ask the important questions like, why did they have such ridiculously large fangs for such a small body!?

"Oh these, these are the pride and joy of the genetics division. They're Arachne Superior. Or the Os Spider. These are the only ones of their species in the entire world, you see we genetically altered and bred them, using the DNA from hundreds of other species to create these 13 super spiders. We had an entire egg sack full of them but these 13 are the only ones that have survived into adulthood." The scientist says with what Mary Jane would describe as a ridiculous amount of pride.

"They're amazing." Peter agrees as he watches one leap from floor of its container to the top and clings to the ceiling.

"Why would you do that!?" Mary Jane asks, alarmed. Who in their right mind looks at a spider and goes 'Hmm? How can I make these things worse?' Seriously, super genetically altered spiders, you may as well hand over the planet to them now. In Mary Jane's opinion burning down all of Manhattan was a perfectly reasonable response to learning these things existed.

The scientist chuckles at her alarm. "I can see that you aren't a big fan of these amazing creatures, but let me see if I can help put your mind at ease. The testing we are doing here with these creatures is in its very most infant stages right now, we're working on spiders due to their variety of species. But we're hoping to be able to use this technology on people one day."

Mary Jane's eyes widen in alarm. "Why, what purpose would putting spider DNA into humans serve?"

The scientist outright laughs at this point, but it's not cruelly, more out of amusement. "No, we're not trying to mix spider and human DNA, we're practicing with adjusting the DNA of spiders so that we can one day adjust the DNA of humans. Imagine it, you find out that your pregnant and that due to something in its genetic makeup the child will be born blind, or maybe with an illness. This technology once perfected will allow us to literally alter the child's DNA, remove its diseases and imperfections. In fact were actually started moving on from spiders to lizards and early testing of this technology on the various lizard species show that it has caused them to be able to rapidly regenerate lost limbs, now imagine being able to apply that to a wounded soldier who has just lost a limb." Mary Jane's eyes dart to the man's side and she can see that he is missing an arm. He smiles kindly at her when he notices where hers and Peter's eyes have landed. Unoffended by their staring.

"That is what this technology is being used for young lady. To find the cures for the injuries and ailments of mankind, it's just not ready to be tested on humans yet, in fact I would say we're a good decade away from it, but these trials now with these more complex species, like these spiders, show real promise for the future and what may one day be our ability to eliminate the frailties of the human condition."

Even Mary Jane had to admit that that sounded pretty good, even if it did deal with spiders. She looks back down at the Os Spiders and a small smile cracks her face.

"You see young lady, these creatures are amazing, and they hold within them the future of all mankind. It's okay to be a little nervous around them, a healthy respect for their power is good, but you don't need to fear them."

"I guess." Mary Jane concedes as she continues to look at the spiders. "Um, question though, you said there were 13 of them but I only count 12. Did one escape?" She asks him as she looks around nervously. Just being surrounded by all these different species of spiders is making her skin crawl.

The scientist studies the containers for a second. "Huh," He mutters confused before turning to look at her. "It's probably just been moved for some more testing. We're very careful here and there is no way that one could ever escape, so there is nothing to worry about." He reassures her.

"Thanks for answering our questions Mr…?" Peter thanks the man.

"Connors, Dr. Curt Connors." He introduces himself, he holds his arm out to shake Peter's and then does the same for her.

"Yes, thank you Dr. Connors, I don't know that I'll ever like them but you've definitely given me something to think about."

"It was my pleasure, it's always a joy to help educate those who are searching for knowledge. Please, if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask." And with that Dr. Connors goes back to what he was working on before he started talking with them.

"See M.J. spiders aren't that bad." Peter tells her and Mary Jane could see the mooney eyed look on his face that Flash had been talking about.

"M.J.?" She questions, it wasn't that she hadn't heard that nickname before, it was actually the most common one she heard, just barely beating out Red. Actually of the two she preferred Red, it seemed more Hollywood to her than M.J. but she didn't hate it when people she was close to called her M.J. it was just a little more personal than she would like from him right now, and her nerves and patience was already pretty thin after spending so much time in this spider room. After today she wouldn't mind trying to be Peter's friend, but while they had known each other for years they weren't close enough for nicknames. "Listen, Peter-" She tries to say gently, deciding that it would probably be for the best to just come out and say that she wasn't interested in him romantically but that she would like to be friends, but Peter heads her off.

"Hey, how about we get a picture of you in front of the Os Spiders, you know for the school paper?" He asks hopefully while holding up his camera.

Mary Jane bites her lower lip, "I don't know… look Peter-"

"C'mon, please, to commemorate your first steps towards getting over your arachnophobia."

"I'm not… I still think they're creep, evil, little things." She tells him, completely serious.

"Yes, but now you understand them a little better and now you know they're not useless. That they might even be the key to helping people in the future. You understand them a little better now and understanding is the first step towards conquering your fears."

Mary Jane lets out a sigh, "Alright, fine, where do you want me?"

Peter's smile is huge, "Right there in front of the cages, um… why don't you stand there like you're really fascinated and curious about everything." Peter suggests trying to figure out the best shot to go for, and if he got to spend the entire time watching Mary Jane, well that was just a perk of being the photographer.

**s**

**5 Hours Earlier**

**s**

Earlier in the day Os Spider, designation Os-13 had been taken to the level 23. Level 23 was where some of the more… questionable experiments at Oscorp took place and was also where most of the big breakthroughs of the company happened.

Cory Earls was a brand new graduate from MIT who had been offered a position straight out of college here at Oscorp. He had graduated at the top of his class and in his mind he was well on his way to being the new big name in computer technology. Or at least he was supposed to be, this once in a life time position he had been offered at Oscorp had actually turned out to be an unpaid internship where he was basically a glorified coffee boy.

His pride was begging him, screaming at him to quit. To leave this demeaning job and go somewhere else, but the more pragmatic side of him knew that that would be the stupid thing to do. You didn't just walk away from an internship at Oscorp. It was one of the hardest most prestigious places in the world to try and get a job at and if he were to leave it would pretty much be a black mark on his record for any other company he tried to get a job at.

So unless he wanted to spend the rest of his life teaching at some crappy high school or working as tech support for some computer supply company he would just have to suck it up and do the demeaning tasks asked of him. Like his current one, carrying one of those creepy super spiders to the radiation chamber.

Today it was this particular spider's turn to go in for the treatment. They had discovered that gamma radiation helped to stabilize the spider's genetic code and stopped them from deteriorating. The spiders needed the gamma treatment at least once a week to survive. The current equipment was based off of the previous work of a Dr. Bruce Banter or Banner or something like that, Oscorp had gotten its hands on the technology as part of a deal with the U.S. government.

However, as much as these treatments were keeping the spiders alive they were also making the little blighters more aggressive. When they had first started doing the gamma treatments on the spider they had been a fairly docile creature, but now the things were a bunch of little maniacs. They got more and more vicious, attacking anything that moved and that they could sink their fangs into.

And the creepy little things were smart too, constantly looking for ways to escape, so during transfers he had to keep an extra close eye on the things. Honestly if he could squish them all he probably would. He knew they was smart, and while he didn't think they were human smart, there was a definite vicious cunningness to them. But each of these little bugs was worth more money than he would probably make in his entire life and so he continues to carry it down to the lab like he has previously, day after day after day.

As he rounds the corner Cory Earls finds himself slamming into the solid form of another person and getting knocked to the ground and container goes flying from his hands. "Watch where you're going you… you…" Cory gulps as he looks up at the person he had just bumped into, Norman Osborn, the founder and CEO of Oscorp and by the scowl on his face he didn't look too happy. Cory was so wrapped up in the fact that he just rammed into and pissed off Norman Osborn that he failed to notice that the container he had been carrying had busted open when he had fallen and that the spider was escaping.

**s**

**5 Hours Later**

**s**

Mary Jane gave her biggest and best star smile as the camera flashed and Peter began to take her picture. The first few shots hadn't felt right, and Mary Jane agreed they could probably do better so she was trying out different poses, going with what felt natural. After all if she was going to be an actress she would have to get used to working with photographers and this was a good way to get some practice in.

She was so focused on posing for the camera that she failed to notice the blue and red spider dangling from a web and slowly descending down on her. As Mary Jane raises her hand to push a lock of hair behind her ear the spider makes contact landing on that hand. What happens next happens all in the matter of seconds.

All eyes in the room turn to Mary Jane as she lets out a scream when she realizes that the creature on her hand is one of the super spiders. She begins to shake her hand as hard as she can to try and fling it off of her. The spider using all of its enhanced strength clings to her and because it feels threatened it bites down. If Mary Jane had something to compare the pain of the bite to she would say it felt like getting shot, she stumbles backwards as her cry of fear turns into one of agony.

Mary Jane bumps into the table and knocks it and the twelve other spiders and their containers over and onto the floor with her falling down on them. The lids of the containers are either smashed or knocked loose and the rest of the spiders begin to flee their captivity. However all twelve of them connect on some kind of almost psychic, instinctual level, with their thirteenth companion who has identified the tall being in their presence as a threat. Normally the spiders would have fled away from the danger, but because they had been continually been exposed to low doses of gamma radiation it had caused them to have a shift in their natures and so instead of fleeing from the threat they attacked. All thirteen of them leap onto the fifteen year old red headed girl and they begin to bite her, over and over again. Their irradiated and genetically altered venom pumping into her system.

Mary Jane is in incredible pain right now. Every bite brings about an awful burning, stinging sensation, her chest is aching as her heart tries to pump itself right out of her chest, her veins feel as if a liquid fire is running through them, and she can barely breathe.

She thrashes about trying to knock the spiders off of her until her muscles begin to seize, paralyzing her and leaving all off her muscles feeling like she is experiencing one massive Charlie horse that is running through her entire body. She vaguely hears the sound of people screaming, of stomping feet and angry yelling. And as her vision blurs and just before her eyes close the last thing Mary Jane sees is the scared face of Dr. Connors kneeling over her.


	2. Chapter 2

**So here is Chapter 2 of The Spectacular Spider-Girl. For those of you who are reading, I hope you enjoy it. Obvious disclaimer, I don't own Spider-Man, Marvel, or any of its Characters.**

**s**

**Chapter 2**

**s**

Mary Jane felt exhausted as she came back to the world of the living. Her head was foggy and she felt stiff, like she had just finished a particularly intense workout. As her eyes flutter open she realizes she's in a hospital. Looking over she sees Flash sitting next to her, his head resting in his hands.

"Hey Flash." She croaks out, her mouth really dry.

"Mary Jane!" He gasps, "Oh thank God!" He jumps up and gently grasps one of her hands in his own. "How are you feeling?"

"A little stiff and probably psychologically scarred for life but okay." She jokes. "What happened?"

"I was so scared, they wouldn't stop biting you. I started to stomp on them you know, get them away from you and to stop attacking you. Then a couple of the scientists there came and started screaming at me to stop and that those spiders were worth millions of dollars." Flash scowls as he remembers how angry he was at them.

"What happened next?"

"Well I told them they shouldn't worry so much about the millions the spiders' were worth and worry about the billions of dollars they were going to lose after you and your parents dropped a law suit on them. Well that shut them up pretty quickly." Flash chuckles, and so does Mary Jane.

"Anyway, while this was going on Parker and that Connors guy got the rest of the spiders away from you. Your skin it was this bright red color and you kept thrashing about and then suddenly you stopped. Connors checked you and… and he said you didn't have a pulse. He started CPR while somebody else called an ambulance. You… you died though…" Flash chokes up a bit at this.

"Hey, I'm right here aren't I? I'm right here and I'm fine… I am fine right?" She asks suddenly very nervous.

"Yeah… yeah you're fine." He says wiping his eyes.

"No hideous scars or disfigurements?" She asks halfway joking and halfway serious.

"No."

"No creepy extra limbs or extra eye balls?" She jokes and it gets a real smile out of him and even a little laugh. "Don't laugh, those were genetically altered super spiders, who knows what could have happened." She teases.

"No, no new body parts, just a couple of bandages and you're still as beautiful as always." After he says this he kisses her forehead.

"Okay so no freaky mutations, that's good. So I just died… temporarily, what happened next?"

"I… I… didn't know what to do, so I just kind of held you. Then Connors got up and ran to another room and then he came back with a giant needle and some kind vial of something."

"How big was the needle?" Not sure if she wants the answer to that question.

"Let's just say it's probably a good thing you weren't awake to see it." He shakes his head. "Anyway, he pushes me away and then he started to cut open your shirt, at first I thought he was just some kind of pedo-necro-freak just trying to cop a feel, so I tried to stop him, but he shoved me out of the way and he shouted that he was trying to save you. By the way, dude was strong for a one armed science geek," Mary Jane rolls her eyes but otherwise doesn't comment. "Any way, he then had Parker help him fill the syringe with the liquid that was in the vial and then he…"

"Then he what?"

"I'm not sure if I should tell you, I mean isn't it enough that you're here and that you're fine?"

"Oh come on Flash, you can't leave me hanging like this." She begs him, kind of engrossed in the story now. This day would make a fantastic scene in the autobiographical movie of her life when she was older and a well-established, world famous, actress.

"Well he… he took the needle and stabbed it directly into your heart."

Mary Jane's eyes widen and then she looks down her hospital gown down at her chest and sure enough there's a little bandage right over where her heart would be. "Wow…"

"Yeah, I know."

"I mean I've seen that kind of thing on a medical dramas before but…"

"Yeah, so have I and let me tell you now, not nearly as cool to see in real life as it is on TV. Anyway, after he did that you sat up super-fast, your eyes were wide and blood shot and you were gasping for breath, and you kept looking around wildly. I was… I… you were alive and I was so relieved, I called out to you and then you kind of looked at me for a moment, like you were a million miles away and then you fainted. I started to freak out again but Connors assured me that you were just unconscious and then the paramedics arrived and I rode with you to the hospital and well… here we are."

"So how long have I been here?" She asks.

"Just a couple of hours, the doctors didn't think you would actually wake up for a couple of days. Anyway, they took some blood to run some tests on it, but that's it. You pretty much stabilized on the way here to the hospital."

"And…" She doesn't want to ask because no matter the answer it's just going to hurt. "Where are my parents?" She asks softly.

Flash scowls. "They've called your home a couple of times but no answer. It's partially why I've been able to wait with you even though I'm not family."

Mary Jane shrugs her shoulders like it doesn't bother her that her parents aren't answering, in all honesty she should be used to it with an abusive ass hole like her father and a drunk like her mother. Still they are her parents and it does hurt. "You're here, that's enough." She tells him and she squeezes his hand affectionately.

"Hey you know, if you play your cards right you could probably get Mr. Richardson to give you an A for the rest of the semester, he was the one who insisted on this field trip in the first place." Flash suggests, hoping to cheer his girlfriend up.

Mary Jane giggles.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

"Are you sure you won't stay the night, it might be a good idea." Flash suggests as he assists Mary Jane up from her wheel chair as she exits the hospital.

"I'm perfectly fine and I'm not going to stay here over night. I just want to go home and I really don't see the need for this wheelchair either." She says scowling at the nurse who was walking them out.

"Sorry kid, hospital policy. But for what it's worth, your blood tests came back normal. Other than a few bite marks that'll heal up in a couple days you should be perfectly fine, like it never happened." The nurse says. "That being said if you feel off or anything you get back here immediately."

"I'm fine I won't-"

"If something comes up she'll be right back." Flash interrupts her.

The nurse chuckles and wishes them well as Flash takes her arm and leads her to his car.

"I'm not an invalid you know?" she reminds him, getting a little annoyed with being treated like she is made of glass.

Flash groans in frustration. After waking up Mary Jane had put up with him and the doctors worrying about her for all of five minutes before she became this impenetrable wall of "I'm fine."

"I watched you get swarmed by mutant spiders and then die before seeing a one armed mad scientist stab you in the heart to bring you back to life. I get it, you say you're okay and I believe you but it was still really scary to see so would you please just let me take care of you, at least for a while? Please?"

Mary Jane doesn't say anything but she does lean a little closer into Flash. She could see where he was coming from, if their situations had been reversed she would have been a nervous wreck around him, constantly worrying about whether or not he was okay. So if it would help put him at ease she could let him play the doting protective boyfriend for a while, it's not like she would be getting that kind of care at home in any way.

"Alright, you win." She says with a long suffering sigh.

"Oh don't look so put out." Flash teases. "I've basically volunteered to be your faithful manservant until you feel better. So enjoy."

The two of them share a brief kiss before Flash escorts her to his car. "So where to?" Flash asks.

"Actually I am kind of tired, do you think you could drop me off at home. I'm kind of exhausted and I'd like to go to sleep." She had been feeling fine but all of a sudden she had gotten extremely tired.

"Sure thing." Mary Jane hears him say before she drifts off to sleep.

When she woke up it was to Flash gently shaking her awake. He offered to carry her inside but she just waved him off, telling him that she would see him tomorrow. As she goes inside she is extremely grateful to see her father passed out on the couch with her mother nowhere to be seen.

She is so tired right now and all she wants to do is sleep. As she stumbles upstairs she is struck by a sudden bout of nausea and ends up throwing up all over the floor. She shakily leans against the wall as she empty's the content of her stomach and then suddenly her chest is struck with a piercing pain.

'_Oh god, I should have stayed in the hospital!" _She thinks as she clutches her chest. She manages to stumble into her room before collapsing to the floor. She tries to call out for help but her voice is caught in her throat and all that comes out is a mangled whimper. She reaches for her cell phone, to call 911 or Flash or someone, anyone, but when she feels her pocket she finds that it's empty. Her phone must have fallen out in Flash's car.

She crawls forward to her bed and manages to crawl onto it, before throwing up one last time. As she lays there in her own vomit, she gives off one last whimper before she falls unconscious.

As Mary Jane Watson lay there, she and the rest of the world were unaware of the final changes going through her body as the gamma irradiated venom of the spiders altered her DNA. Mary Jane had always been fit, but now every last trace of fat disappeared. Her flat and smooth stomach now gaining a toned six pack, her arms and thighs and calf muscles all gaining more definition. Her pretty and fiery red hair, now gaining an almost otherworldly sheen to it. The already beautiful young girl was slowly transforming into a goddess. Her body losing any imperfections that it had once had, tightening and toning itself to perfection. She was slowly becoming super human, a perfect predator. And those were just the visible changes. The spider venom altering her in other, less obvious ways. And within a few short hours, Mary Jane's transformation was complete.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

She was in danger.

That was the first thought that entered Mary Jane's mind as she regained consciousness. That immediate sense of danger is what caused her eyes to snap open and as she does it's just in time to see her father reach out and grab her by her hair, yanking her up and slamming her into a wall.

"You little bitch, look at the mess you've made!" His red face is screaming at her, the smell of alcohol on his breath is smothering, making it hard to breathe. However if she hadn't been so shocked by the way she had been woken up and if she had been focusing and her mind clear she would have realized that despite the physicality of it all, her father's actions didn't actually hurt her. Not the hair pull, or the way he slammed her into the wall, or even the way he was gripping her arm as he held her in place.

"What… Daddy, I…" She looks around the room confused, her father filling her field of vision, but she is also able to see her mother standing in the doorway looking on blankly. "What's going on?" She asks, voice quivering.

She had seen her father this angry before, and unless she wanted another beating she was going to have to figure out a way to calm him down.

"What's going on is you threw up all over my hallway, all over _my _house! You make this disgusting mess and then just leave it there like some kind of animal!" He screams, "I stepped in it, I fucking stepped in it you little bitch! Do you have any idea how disgusting that is!?"

"I- I'm sorry daddy… I… didn't… I got-" However she is interrupted by what happens next. He raises his hand high and swings it toward her face as fast and as hard as he can, but instead of the usual blur, followed by the painful sting and throb of when this usually happens, something else occurred.

He was moving so slow, like he wasn't really, but he was all the same. She knew it was happening at full speed but it was like watching it in slow motion. And in her head… there was a ringing in her head, some kind of voice screaming at her to move. But how, how could she move, how could she avoid this? And just as suddenly it came to her, a flash in her head, some kind of natural instinct talking to her, showing her what to do. She wasn't sure how, but suddenly she knew. She just knew, what to do and how to move to avoid the slap.

And so she does, she ducks down to her knees, faster than she had ever moved before and before she could even blink, she continues to follow her instincts and punches up with all of her might. She watches in horror and amazement as her fist connects with her father's jaw, before he could even finish the follow through of his own attack and he goes sailing through the air. She could hear the bone crack and break under the power of her swing. There is a loud thud as he hits the wall with a crash, before he slides to the floor in a heap.

And as soon as it's over it's as if she's back in the real world, everything moving at normal speed, with her father now unconscious across the room, her mother by his side, holding him and screaming. Mary Jane stares at her hands in awe, not quite believing what had just happened. Had she just done that, no, this couldn't be real, there was no way that she could have just done what she had. But the evidence was there, she had seen it happen, she had done it.

She looks to her parents, her father not moving, her mother sobbing and screaming and suddenly Mary Jane feels sick, she had hurt her father, she had hit him. Never mind that he had been about to hurt her, she had hit her daddy and it all came crashing down on her.

"Daddy!" She gasps taking a step forward to move to his side, but her mother swings at her and holds him protectively.

"Get away from him you freak! Get out of our house, get out, get out!" Her mother turns her attention back to her father. "What did she do to you!? What has she done!? Oh my poor, poor, Philip!" She wails. She turns and glares at her daughter, her eyes bloodshot with alcohol and grief, "GET OUT!" She screams one final time and so Mary Jane, never so scared in her life, spider incident excluded, takes off and into the night.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

Mary Jane was in tears as she walked through the city at night. She had hurt her daddy, no, she had defended herself. She had done nothing wrong, he was about to hurt her and so she had defended herself… and for that her mother had kicked her out. She was shivering and hugging herself, she felt cold, but she knew it was more out of shock than the weather, which was fairly warm right now. What happened back there and how had she done it?

The last thing she remembered was feeling sick and in pain and crawling to her room. She had lost her phone and she wasn't able to call for help and she had thought she had been dying, and then she lost consciousness. And then she had been awoken by her father, and knowing she had been in danger… she reacted.

But she had been in danger before, her father was not a kind man… so why had this time been different? She had never hit anyone before, let alone punch her father across a room, so why now? She shakes her head and tries to calm herself down. She needed to get to Flash, she needed her boyfriend. She could freak out about things later, right now she needed to get off the streets.

The Thompson's lived in a nice neighborhood and were a good family who had always been very kind to her. She knew they would help her and take her in, unfortunately for her, she lived in a rather rough part of the city, and it wasn't safe for anyone, let alone a teenage girl to be walking alone at night.

And just as the thought crosses her mind her worst fears are confirmed and she sees two rough looking guys jump off a stoop she had just walked past and begin to walk behind her. She could feel their eyes crawling over her, violating her as they checked her out. Cat-calling her as they do so. She picks up her speed and all but runs to get away from them and she hears them laugh as she does so.

"C'mon baby, we'll be nice!"

"Yeah, you look like you could use a friend!"

She doesn't care anymore, she's really afraid now and so she takes off in a dead sprint.

"Hey where do you think you're going?"

"Get her!"

She can hear them give chase, she turns a corner and then hoping to lose them ducks into an alley. However as she does so she bumps into a trash can, it and its contents falling to the ground in a loud clatter.

She hears one of them call out that she's down the alley and she begins to cry harder, she runs down the alley way and turns a corner and to her horror finds that it's a dead end. She's trapped and she knew what was going to happen next. This wasn't fair, this wasn't right! She begins to pound on the wall and begins to scream for help, her heart beating furiously in her chest as the icy adrenaline of fear pumps through her body. She continues to scream and cry, she doesn't want this, she wants someone to come and save her, to make it okay, but she knows it's useless. In this city, in this area, there are no heroes.

She sees their large shadows as they slowly stalk down the alley way, getting closer and closer to her. She can hear them laughing about the fun they're about to have and so Mary Jane closes her eyes, and begs to God or whoever is listening, that someone, anyone will come and save her.

And then it happens again. A voice in the back of her mind, almost like a long forgotten instinct from time immemorial, it comes to her and it whispers to her softly, gently, one word. One simple word that seems absurd, but she listens to it anyway, and does as it instructs her.

Jump.

Mary Jane leaps with all of her might and is stunned to find that rather than the couple of inches off the ground she was expecting, she finds herself flying high into the air. She instinctually tucks herself into a flip and then reaches for the wall and in what is becoming a rather common occurrence, Mary Jane finds herself surprised once more that she is sticking to said wall.

Her heart is racing, she had just jumped what must have been easily thirty feet into the air and now she was now hanging from a wall. Not dangling from a ledge, no, she was legitimately sticking to a wall. She might have shrieked in fright if the raucous laughter of her pursuers hadn't caught her attention, and so she clamps her mouth shut and watches from the shadows above as they enter the area, not paying attention to the fact that she shouldn't be able to see everything as clearly as she does here in the dark.

"Hey where did she go?" One of them asks.

"I don't know, I could have sworn she had come down this way."

"Damn it, that was one fine piece of ass-"

Mary Jane has a hard time controlling her anger as she listens in on them talking about all of the things they would have liked to have done to her. As they start to leave, Mary Jane climbs the last few feet of the wall and up and over the railing and onto the roof. Once there she sits against the railing and brings her knees up to her chest and begins to cry once more. The events of the day finally catching up to her, from the spider attack, to what happened to her father, to just now where those two men were going to rape her, it was all too much to handle right then and so she cried. Harder than she ever had before, and she doesn't stop crying until finally exhaustion claims her and she falls asleep right there on the roof.


	3. Chapter 3

** Standard disclaimer, I don't own Spider-Man or any of its characters.**

**s**

**Chapter 3**

**s**

The bright light of the sun is what awakens Mary Jane, her back is stiff and it's a little chilly but otherwise not too bad. As her eyes flutter open, she is momentarily confused, why is she up on a roof top and not at home in bed? She shakes her head to clear the cobwebs and then stretches, trying to work out the kinks in her neck, and as she does the memories of last night come rushing back to her.

She shakily gets to her feet and looks out at the city that is just starting its day. She should be getting ready for school right now but she discards that idea almost immediately. Something was going on with her and she needed to figure out what. Once she had some answers then she could work out what to do next.

She leans against the railing on the roof and looks at her hands, they don't seem to be any different and yet last night they had clung to a wall. She lifts her arm to examine her bicep and is surprised to see how toned it is. It wasn't all body builder, but there was definitely muscle there that hadn't been before. She lifts her shirt and looks at her belly and is also surprised to see the six pack.

"Holy cow… I'm a freaking amazon." She gasps.

So apparently she was now buff, not necessarily something to complain about, but definitely not the smooth look she had gone for and that a model or actress was expected to have. Still, she could definitely work with this. What else had happened last night… well she jumped super high and she had stuck to the wall, she had dodged her father's slap… and then punched him across the room, but how? How did this all happen?

She turns and looks out over the city and contemplates what she should do, the first step is to obviously to get down from the roof but then what? Did she go to the hospital, should she go to the hospital? Argh, this was all so confusing… she wasn't thinking clearly right now and she needed help. Flash, Flash could help her, she could meet up with him and explain all of this freaky stuff that was happening to her and then he could help her work through what was going on or take her to the hospital if she needed.

She goes over to a little shed on top of the roof that obviously led down and into the building. As she grabs the handle to the door, she's not paying attention and she crushes it with her bare hand. She immediately lets go startled.

"Holy shit!" Okay there was something seriously wrong with her, because while she had always been fit and even now that she was ripped like she was she still shouldn't have been able to crush metal like that. She hesitantly reaches over and grabs the broken door knob and pulls and once again her strength overwhelms her and she rips the door from its hinges, she shrieks and accidentally flings the door, which goes sailing through the air across the roof and smashes into an adjacent building.

Suddenly an alarm begins to ring as well and Mary Jane jumps, startled, however it wasn't just a little jump of fright, it was a full on back flip across the roof where she lands perfectly balanced, crouching on the railing.

"No… way…" She looks around hesitantly, wondering if anyone had seen her. As the alarm continues to blare she realizes that she really needs to get out of there now so she stands up and looks around and sees that the building across from her has a fire escape that leads back down to the street.

She had already done some pretty amazing physical feats… could she do that? Could she make it across the gap separating her and the other building? But even as she is contemplating it, her mind is instantly filled with that little voice she has been hearing, it doesn't speak, not really and not with words, but more with images. Like she can see herself doing what it's asking, like somehow she instinctually knows what to do. And so, not giving it a second thought she leaps and without any real effort on her part she lands on the other roof.

A big smile forms on her face, "This is so cool."

She quickly takes the fire escape down into the alley and before she knows it she's back on the already crowding street. She moves quickly, running at jog, and she is both pleased and surprised to find that she's also faster than she had been before. She finds a public restroom and deciding to brave it, enters. She checks around to make sure no one is around before locking the door and then she stands in front of the mirror.

And looking back at her isn't the reflection that she is used to seeing. It's her, but it's not, it's like a better version of her. She's changed, it's subtle but noticeable. She had always been pretty, she already knew that, but this went beyond that, her hair had always been a fiery red, but now there was a deep and lustrous sheen to it. Her skin had also lost all blemishes as well, no pimples, no zits, nothing. And her eyes, there was a vibrancy to them now, the coloring was deep and pure. If she were looking at them in a picture she would think they were photo shopped or that she was wearing contacts or something.

She looks over and double checks that she had locked the door before removing her shirt and is surprised to see her body looking the way it does. Yes, she had noticed the new tone and definition she had seemingly taken but seeing it now and in full force was something else entirely. She looked amazing! She's grinning from ear to ear as she examines her body, she was pretty before, she was fit before, but this was on a different level. She had gone from the cute girl next door to one of those fitness models that were in those workout DVD's or better yet like some kind of super heroine in one of those silly summer blockbusters.

She is brought out of her musings when she hears a loud knocking on the door, someone yelling to be let in. She quickly throws her shirt back on and pushes past the person. She needed to get out of there anyway and really see what she could do, super looks, super powers? Yesterday may have been the worst day of her life but today, today seemed to be looking up.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

Mary Jane quickly made her way to an abandoned steel works factory that she knew was nearby. It had lots of high places and beams and was fairly isolated, the perfect place to test out everything she could do, and test it she did. She started simple, jumping up and down and seeing as high as she could go. Eventually deciding that she evened out at about thirty feet. From there things got more intricate.

She started running around and jumping into the high beams and rafters of the old factory. She found that she needed very little practice, that she knew instinctively how to do whatever it was she wanted to do. The little voice in her head a perfect guide. She could leap and flip and contort her body in a way that would make even the most renowned Olympic gymnast green with envy.

She could stick to walls, which was both very cool, a little weird, and very handy, having over shot one of her leaps by accident and slamming against the wall. But she just held on tightly and rather than fall to the ground she stayed exactly where she was, before pushing off flipping through the air and landing perfectly on the ground. Dance lessons and cheerleading be damned, she had never had this kind of balance before either.

She looks around the dusty old factory and grins, walking over to a rather large steel beam on the ground she picks it up with no problem, finding that it may as well have been made of Styrofoam for how heavy it felt to her. She drops it with a loud clang and looks around some more for something heavier to try. Finally she sees outside, abandoned, and missing its wheels an old VW Beatle. She was strong now, but was she…?

She jogs over to the rusted over car and studies it for a second before deciding to just go for it. She finds that she can easily roll it over and her smile grows. She bites her lip and wonders is she should really try this next thing, before thinking why not. She grips the bug and with a heave and being careful to lift with her legs she manages to raise the car over her head.

She begins to laugh excitedly. This was amazing, this was incredible, where the hell had all of this come from? She sets the car down and as she does so she notices a little spider crawling away from her and Mary Jane didn't think she had ever felt dumber in her entire life. Her face tinged pink as it comes to her.

She had been bitten by genetically altered super spiders and she wonders where the hell her knew found abilities had come from. "Really M.J.?" She shakes her head and is glad that no one is around to see her dumb moment. Still that did beg the question, what now? She had all these freaky powers, cool, but still freaky, and they were probably given to her by those spiders so….

Should she go to OsCorp and tell them what happened? Doctor Connors had been really nice and he had saved her life but… it was a science lab and she had no desire to become some freaky lab rat… or lab spider in her case. Should she go to the hospital instead, but what could they do for her? I mean they hadn't even caught this change when she had been in there care, what could they do for her other than send her to OsCorp? But she had to tell someone, didn't she?

I mean, what if this was temporary? What if this was permanent? She had been genetically altered in some way, and while she wasn't exactly the greatest scientific mind in the world, she certainly knew that that was something that needed to watched and maybe even treated. I mean, what if this was just the beginning and she was turning into some kind of giant spider girl monster thing?

Mary Jane shudders at that thought. No, she needed to talk to someone she could trust. This was all too close to her and she needed a second opinion. She needed to go find Flash, he may not be a science geek, but he was her boyfriend and he did care about her and he might have some good advice or be able to help her work out what she wanted to do.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

Mary Jane was running as fast as her legs could carry her, tears streaming down her face, her heart breaking.

How could he? How could he do this to her? She thought he had cared about her, had thought they had been in love and yet it wasn't even a day that she had been gone and she had already seen him kissing that bitch Liz Allen.

She hated him, and her, she hated them both! She knew Liz was after Flash, she knew that they had dated briefly, but Flash had promised her that it was over, that what they had was over. How could she be so stupid!?

She had gone to the school, knowing it was lunch and that Flash would be at the cafeteria. So she quickly walked in, waving hello and saying hi to the people who had come up to her, but quickly and politely begging them off. Desperate to find Flash, and tell him what was happening to her, get his thoughts on the matter. She was walking down the hall that lead directly to the cafeteria, when she had seen them.

They were by Flash's locker and then out of nowhere, like a punch to the gut, Mary Jane saw Liz lean in and capture Flash's lips with her own. It had been too much, she had loved him, and she had thought that he loved her too but she was wrong, and so she turned and ran, ran as fast as she could go.

If she had stayed to watch it play out, then she would have seen Flash push Liz away, an angry glare on his face. She would have heard him chew the other girl out for kissing him, explaining that he already had a girlfriend that he was in love with and that there was no chance at the two of them ever getting back together.

However she didn't stay, and the last image of Flash in her mind, would be of him kissing another woman, and she wouldn't learn the truth of the matter for a long time.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

Mary Jane spent the rest of the day wandering around the city aimlessly. It wasn't until the sun had begun to set that she realized that she had no idea about what to do next or where to go. She couldn't go to Flash, him kissing Liz Allen had made that abundantly clear. She had no friends at school that she felt close enough to, to go and ask for help. And she certainly couldn't go home.

She was on her own. She decided against going to the hospital or OsCorp. If something went wrong, like she started growing extra limbs or something, then she might consider it but she was nobody's lab rat and quite honestly these new powers were the only good thing to come out of these past two days. She had lost her boyfriend, her home, and all sense of stability. She wasn't about to lose these gifts either. Besides, maybe she didn't need all that stuff.

She was truly special now, unique, maybe this was all she needed to make it in this world. She wanted to be an actress, so why not go for it. There was literally nothing to hold her back now, and you didn't need a high school diploma to be an actress, plus with her abilities she could market that she did her own stunts.

A confident smile forms on Mary Jane's face. Yes, this was it, her moment. How many other actors and actresses had started from nothing and worked their way up to the top, it was practically the cliché Hollywood story, and soon it would be hers. She didn't need Flash, she didn't need her stupid parents, and she didn't need school. The world was hers for the taking, all she needed to do was reach out and grab it, all she needed…

Mary Jane catches her reflection in a window and frowns, she was covered in rust and dirt and her clothes were a mess. All she needed was a change of clothing. And so with a determined nod, Mary Jane Watson decided to go home for the last time. She would pack up her belongings and that would be it, she would cut all ties to her former life and then she would begin anew. A phoenix rising from the ashes.

It doesn't take her long to get home, she was fairly close already and with her knew found abilities jumping from roof top to roof top to cut off the time was no big deal. She jumps from the top of the Parker home and lands on the wall next to her window, and not caring that it's locked or that her parents will have to replace it she forces it open.

She climbs inside and is both relieved and sad that she feels nothing in here. No sense of nostalgia or longing. She's relieved because it's going to make leaving so much easier, but she is sad because really, leaving home shouldn't be this easy. At least not for a fifteen year old girl.

She lets out a sigh and shrugs her shoulders before going deeper into the house, finding two large suitcases and she heads back to her room to begin her packing. Essentials only she decides, so basically clothes, makeup, toiletries, her pillow and blanket, her stuffed pig, Sir Bacon, the money from the money jar on top of the fridge, hey her parents owed her, don't judge, and finally her laptop. It's a rundown, old, and beat up thing, but it had Wi-Fi access and would be useful. Just as she finishes packing she hears the door to her room open and her father is standing there, holding a baseball bat with her mother hiding behind him.

His jaw is wired almost completely shut and she notices instantly the way his body tenses when he sees her.

"What are you doing here?" He manages to growl at her, but she can tell it's difficult and causing him some pain.

She slings her backpack over her shoulders and grabs the two suitcases. "Don't worry, this is the last you'll ever see of me." She says, glaring at him.

"Oh no you don't, Madeline call the cops. I want this little bitch to answer for what she did."

Her mother looks nervously between them, unsure, until her father raises a hand like he's going to strike her and she hurries off to do his bidding.

Mary Jane rolls her eyes, she needs to leave and now. She moves and stands right in front of him. "Move."

"No, I'm not going anywhere and neither are you." He snarls through, his closed mouth.

"Please, for once in your entire life, act like a father and do what's right for your child. Let me leave." Her eyes are glaciers as she stares at him.

He raises his hand, the one not holding the bat and he slaps her. Just like before she saw it coming, but this time she did nothing to stop it. She felt it, but it didn't hurt, it was nothing to her. She continues to glares at him.

"That was the last time you will ever touch me." She tells him, "Now move."

"You little cun-aaarrrgh!" He chokes out, he had raised his hand to hit her again, but Mary Jane had had enough and so faster than he had thought possible she had grabbed him by his throat and lifted him off the ground, the bat clattering to the floor as he grabs at her arms desperately, his legs kicking as he tries to make her let him go, choking and gasping for every drop of air he can get. The fear in his eyes palpable as she squeezes, and he wonders for the moment if she is going to kill him and he can see it in her eyes, she's wondering the same thing. But the moment passes and she drops him and he falls to the floor coughing and choking, trying to catch his breath.

"You deserve it, after everything you've put me through, all the names, the degradation, the beatings, everyday living my life in fear of you…. You would have deserved it and if I really was your daughter, if I had learned the lessons you taught me growing up, then I would have… but I'm not you and I never want to be you." Mary Jane grabs her suitcases and steps over him, his eyes wide and following her with fear.

"If I never see you again it will be too soon."

As she walks down the stairs she passes the kitchen her mother holding the phone, and she stares at Mary Jane as if she has never seen her own daughter before. The two women share a look and Mary Jane says, "You're just as bad as he is." And with those parting words she continues on, out the front door and out of her parent's lives for good.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

Mary Jane takes a seat on a bus stop bench and lets out a sigh. "Great going M.J. but now what?"

She didn't regret leaving her parents, not even for a second, but her new found independence while a wonderful feeling, didn't exactly put a roof over her head. She needed to find a place to stay until she could get a job and find an apartment. But where could she go?

She looks up at the sky and is thankful that it's at least not raining. I mean it was bad enough that she was now a starving actress with no place to go, but she didn't think she could handle the cliché of it starting to rain at this point.

She looks around the abandoned street and wonders what time it is. Not that it would help her any, knowing if it was like 1:30 or 2:30 in the morning wouldn't make her any less homeless. Still, some reference of time would be nice. Well there was no use in moping she needed to think of a plan, and she needed to do it better than she just had.

Leaving her parent's house to become an actress was a great outline but it did absolutely nothing to help her out right then and there. It was a goal to reach, not the journey. She checks the money she had grabbed to see how much and is dismayed to find that even though there were quite a few bills they were all ones with the occasional five thrown in. All in all, as she counted her funds, she had 68 dollars.

Good enough to feed her for a few days but certainly not enough to get a hotel room, hell, it probably wasn't enough for even a rundown motel room. Mary Jane lets out a huff of frustration, being out on her own was proving to be a lot more difficult than she imagined. She may as well have stayed at her parents place and waited for the cops, a night in jail was a roof over her head and it's not like she wasn't tough enough to take care of herself now. But no, she refused to have a record. She was not going to be one of those Hollywood bad girls, she was aiming for a more America's Sweetheart thing in her career and a record would make that a lot harder to do.

A thought enters her mind. But then again… this was a dire situation and if it meant either sleeping on the street or in a warm bed, then surely there was nothing too wrong about slightly bending the rules. She could just break into a hotel room, it wouldn't be hard. She could sneak in, spend the night and then leave before anyone noticed. And to make sure that everything was fair and even, when she made it as a huge movie start then she could do like commercial's for them to pay them back for letting her unknowingly stay at their facilities. Yes that seemed fair, a couple of nights of free room, for millions of dollars gained by her future endorsements!

"I think that will work out just perfectly." She smiles, jumping to her feet and grabbing her stuff. She leaps up from the ground onto a nearby light post, and from there onto a roof. From there she runs across the roof tops, jumping and flipping through the air, smiling and laughing and reveling in her new found freedom and abilities, feeling like this was the start of her real adventure and that it would all be smooth sailing from here.

She finds a decent hotel, one that matches her criteria, and quickly finds a room on the top floor that is not in use. She's lucky enough that the windows are unlocked and it doesn't take her long to squeeze her bags into the room and then shimmy her way inside. Once there she flips on the lights and heads into the bathroom, to take a long and well deserved shower. After that, she'll go to bed, get a couple hours of sleep and then it's up and at 'em bright and early to go find her big break.

Yep, Mary Jane giggles, it was going to be smooth sailing from here on out.


End file.
